NEW-BUILD ‘E’ WILL COST HALF OF ‘UNOFFICIAL’ ESTIMATE

The Bluebell Railway Atlantic Group’s planned new-build SECR ‘E’ class 4-4-0 will cost £1.2 million – just under half of an earlier and ‘unofficial’ estimate of £2.5m.

When the proposal for the replica Wainwright engine was first revealed this summer, as a follow-up to the group’s current project of LBSCR 4-4-2 No. 32424 Beachy Head, it was estimated that the total cost would be “around £2.5 million” (SR494).

However, Atlantic Group chairman Terry Cole said: “We looked long and hard at many different projects including a ‘K’ class engine which would have cost about £2.5 million as a ballpark figure. We settled for the ‘E’ class which will be easier to build and maintain and we have costed the project at £1.2 million.”

The superheater header has been fitted to the ex-GNR ‘Atlantic’ boiler destined for use on Beachy Head, which passed its hydraulic test in October (SR499), and the superheater elements themselves have also been delivered. The locomotive is expected to steam in the summer of 2021.

●● For more details of the ‘E’ class project, see pages 52-55.

DAVID JONES The superheater header in place on the ex-GNR ‘Atlantic’ boiler for replica LBSCR ‘H2’ No. 32424 Beachy Head. The group’s next project, SECR ‘E’ 4-4-0 No. 516, has a saturated boiler, so “we don’t have to worry about such items!” says photographer